Marcelo does not rule out a new state of emergency but demands parliamentary consensus – Observer



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The President of the Republic admitted this Thursday, in statements on the sidelines of a ceremony at the Belém Palace, declaring a new state of emergencya, if the measures that the Government is going to take in the Council require a constitutional exception regime. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa warned, however, that the new restrictive measures, to be effective, must have “parliamentary consensus e social“. The president also admits that, after the extraordinary council of ministers on Saturday, he will speak with the country “next week.”

Marcelo does not close the door to what would be the fourth state of emergency since the beginning of the pandemic, but warns that the measures taken under the suspension of rights will only be effective with this broad parliamentary support and with the understanding of public opinion. This is because, the president defends, these measures are much more difficult to take now than “eight months” ago. The parties with a parliamentary seat will be heard this Friday in S. Bento and the president wants the prime minister to seek a solid base of support from the other parties.

For now, he explains, he wants “the Portuguese to know” that both the Government and the President are “aware of these problems.” He even revealed that, on Wednesday, he had a meeting with António Costa in which the Prime Minister informed him of the measures he plans to take and the President also shared some of the proposals he has heard in meetings with entities related to the sector. of health.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa says he is concerned about how the restrictive measures are going “framed in the constitutional and legal regime“- that you are not prepared for a pandemic situation – and that”in the immediate futureThe government “will consider all these observations and try to find the way.” Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will “accompany” this path, either in the enactment of laws and, if necessary, “if necessary” he may declare “a state of emergency, even if it is proposed by another sovereign body.”

The President also recalled that there could even have been changes in the law and the Constitution to accommodate exceptional measures to respond to the pandemic, but as no party had this initiative, it has been necessary to “use the instruments, the tools that we have.” . Now, Costa, under the watchful eye of the “professor of constitutional law” and President Marcelo are framing like this “the measures to be taken in existing schemes“. The President recalls that all this must be done for this second phase “without much time.” And the quickest response so that some necessary measures are not unconstitutional, you know, is the state of emergency.

There is yet another sign that a new state of emergency may arrive. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa admits to coming to speak with the country next week and this is something he always did when declaring states of emergency I, II and II between March and May. For now, do not open the game on the content of the statement, although it leaves clues: “I finally admit to having said something to the country over the next week. “

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa reminds deniers that the pandemic is not a joke: “The situation in hospitals, in intensive care, is not a fiction.” The President of the Republic himself has anticipated a more difficult situation and began to listen to experts almost two weeks ago about the measures to be taken in this second wave. After the president took action, the government also decided to do so this week.

The Minister of State and Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, and the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, held on Wednesday, at the end of the afternoon, an audience with the experts usually heard in the so-called ‘Infarmed Meetings’ with the aim of de, explained a note from the Government, “to obtain scientific advice and input in the field of the measures that the Government is considering adopting this week to contain the transmission of Covid-19.” This Thursday, the same ministers meet with doctors specializing in infectious diseases and intensive medicine.

An Extraordinary Council of Ministers will be held on Saturday to define the measures, which are expected to be more restrictive, to be taken as of November 1.

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